Youth News

During the month of April, the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and Oklahoma Farm Report is spotlighting the twenty Area Stars of Oklahoma FFA that are among the highest achievers in the organization. The stars come from the five areas in four categories- Star in Ag Placement, Star in Agriscience, Star in Agribusiness and Star in Production Agriculture. This week, we are spotlighting the five area stars in Agriscience, who will compete for the State Star Award in Agriscience during the Oklahoma State FFA Convention coming up May 1-2, 2018 in Oklahoma City.

Today, we are spotlighting the Central Area Star in Agriscience, Katelynn Carey of the Harrah FFA Chapter. Katelynn’s project is one that is really very practical that can be applied to just about anyone who has a garage or shop on their property and deals with basic mechanics. With aspirations of eventually becoming a registered nurse, Katelynn is often preoccupied with safety and looks for ways to prevent accidents before they happen. She turned to her chapter’s shop class for inspiration. There she found oil spills could be particularly dangerous if left unattended. According to her research, most injuries in shops are accidents related to oil spills. This is a problem almost everyone, on and off the farm faces at some point. Katelynn decided to test different materials to find out which one worked the best at cleaning up spills.

“I placed oil on a shop floor and I used kitty litter, sand and wood shavings to see which one would absorb the oil the best,” she explained. “I found that wood shavings are the most absorbent. They absorb 44 percent of the oil, while sand absorbs 25 percent and kitty litter only absorbing 37 percent.”

Katelynn adds that the oil is still a hazard if not cleaned up completely. She says once the oil is absorbed into the wood shavings, the shavings must then be properly disposed of due to risk of being a potential fire hazard as the material is at this point extremely flammable. Finally, she recommends using an industrial clean up solution you can purchase at the store to finish the job.

FFA helped her to get this far with her project, she says, giving her the opportunity beforehand to develop her speaking and communication skills which she used to effectively present her study to the judges. She says FFA has also sparked her interest in science and its application in agriculture. Furthermore, she claims it has taught her responsibility, effective time management and made her into a “people person” while opening her mind to new ideas. She plans to attend Oklahoma State University in the fall to pursue that dream of becoming a nurse.

You can hear her entire conversation with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays, by clicking or tapping on the LISTEN BAR below.

Our salute of the 2018 Area Stars of the Oklahoma FFA is brought to you by American Farmers & Ranchers and AFR Insurance, proud to support Oklahoma’s youth. Visit the AFR website by clicking or tapping here to learn more on how AFR supports the young people of Oklahoma, and how AFR can provide you with quality insurance for your home, auto, farm, and life.